Continuing 911 problems in the nation's capital were raised at a District of Columbia Council hearing Thursday. Witnesses complained of long hold times, plus problems sending first responders to the correct location when the emergency is at a place such as a freeway or park, instead of a street address. Many problems cited by government officials, an expert, a union representative and advocates during the city council's Judiciary and Public Safety Committee hearing have been reported in our ongoing series on the Office of Unified Communications, which sends out rescuers. (For our latest reports, see here and here.) Stakeholders expressed hope that inaccuracies sending the correct response to the right place are being addressed. They cited better communication between OUC and agencies like Washington's Fire and EMS Department, as well as more transparency by OUC when 911 mistakes occur. Committee Chairman Charles Allen (D) noted that Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly and witnesses including 911 expert Dave Statter expressed hope. Describing himself as "one of DC 911’s biggest critics," Statter had some "optimism" with the end of OUC denials and double-talk on mistakes. "It’s refreshing to finally hear an admission that there are problems," he said. Interim Director Cleo Subido is "moving the ball forward," Statter said: "Her challenges" are "many," and "there have been some recent serious mistakes." Subido and others agreed that waits occur. D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council Chair Rachel Maisler, who says she was testifying for herself, recounted being on hold two times when she contacted 911, including for a gunshot victim. "Minutes were ticking away" as she waited on hold at OUC, whose operators' performance the District resident praised -- once the office had capacity to answer her call. Washington Area Bicyclist Association Outreach Manager Ursula Sandstrom recounted problems sending assistance to places like trails. "OUC needs to ensure that dispatchers are set up for success" with the necessary technology and tools, she testified, so "that residents are confident that if they call, they receive prompt and accurate help." Union official Debbie Hart-Knox cited her concerns of "negative depictions of those members I serve" from reports about dispatching errors, which she doesn't "refute." Members are "questioning ourselves while performing in a stressful job," Hart-Knox added. She blamed managers for a "negative work environment" and said "we can only do what we have been taught and instructed to do." DC 911 is "absolutely committed to being forthright and transparent about any identified performance gaps," said Subido, "taking the steps necessary to learn and improve when mistakes are made." For further comments, see here.

Congressional Democrats refiled a pair of multibillion-dollar broadband funding proposals Thursday -- the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-1783) and Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act amid a rising push for infrastructure spending legislation, as expected (see 2103030063). The proposals' return came ahead of President Joe Biden’s Thursday night speech marking the one-year anniversary of widespread pandemic-related shutdowns, which some expect will include an unveiling of his plans for an infrastructure spending package. Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act package (HR-1319) earlier in the day, with emergency broadband money (see 2103110037).

Fairfax County, Virginia, had 911 connection issues Wednesday. “Capacity has been temporarily diminished and callers may experience extended wait times -- please stay on the line,” the Fairfax Police Department tweeted in the morning. “Text to 9-1-1 is working. Staff is working to restore the system to full capacity as soon as possible.” The department said in the afternoon the problems were addressed, but the nonemergency line was “experiencing sporadic network issues.” County officials didn’t comment on what caused the problems. The FCC declined comment.

The FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council approved a report Wednesday with recommendations on measuring risks and remediation costs in 911 and next-generation 911 networks. During its virtual meeting, CSRIC also OK'd reports on making standalone 5G networks more reliable and addressing session initiation protocol (SIP) security challenges. The meeting was the last under the group’s current charter and the first under President Joe Biden's administration.

The National Emergency Number Association’s 3D Geoinformation Systems Working Group is making “significant progress toward requirements for using 3D location data” and will submit a report to the FCC Public Safety Bureau in the next few weeks, CEO Brian Fontes and others told an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The time for providers “to deliver vertical location information is now,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 07-114: “The sooner … providers can convey vertical location information, the sooner 9-1-1 can set about to extracting the greatest possible value from this information.”

Deny petitions by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon (see here, here and here) for waivers of FCC vertical location accuracy rules, officials from the International Association of Fire Chiefs asked an aide to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “911 location accuracy is so important,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 07-114: It allows "fire and EMS personnel to provide critical assistance.” Nationwide providers face a mandate to deploy dispatchable location or Z-axis technology in each of the top 25 cellular market areas by April 3.

The FCC is seeking comment by March 23, replies by April 2, on what "911 fees by states and other jurisdictions" support "the provision of 911 services," in docket 20-291, said Wednesday's Federal Register. The Consolidated Appropriations Act directed the FCC to raise such questions.

A tough 2020 for emergency call takers shows the need for more federal funding, said three local call center heads on an NG-911 Institute webinar Tuesday. Current funding is “grossly inadequate” to build facilities with sufficient technology, security and interoperability, said Orleans Parish Communication District Executive Director Tyrell Morris. “I don’t know of a single federal resource that is available today for construction of a 911 center to really meet these needs.” There are grants for technology improvements, "not the true brick and mortar we need.” New Orleans faced a disastrous spike in COVID-19 cases last year after Mardi Gras was a super-spreader event, he said. Unable to telework when the coronavirus first hit, 911 call takers were left “more vulnerable than the average person going to work,” said Renee Gordon, Alexandria, Virginia, Department of Emergency Communications director. As the virus continued to spread, Alexandria learned how to tweak existing equipment to allow remote working (see 2006120038), but many smaller centers couldn’t do that, she said. Teleworking would have helped during the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball game in Alexandria, she said. “We had an influx of calls,” and it would have helped to allow workers not on shift to immediately take calls at home, she said. More rural network infrastructure funding would improve emergency response in Larimer County, Colorado, said Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority CEO Kimberly Culp. During summer wildfires last year, landline emergency alerts had a 60% failure rate, she said: It wasn’t due to the carrier or the alert system, but because many rural areas lack broadband and cell towers.

McKool Smith taps Alan Whitehurst from Quinn Emanuel as principal, working on intellectual property and unfair competition litigation and specializing in telecom disputes ... Lumen hires Nick Andersen, ex-Department of Energy, as chief information security officer, public sector ... In acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's starting Broadband Data Task Force, others named to it, besides the agency's Jean Kiddoo as chair (see our report here and more details here), are Senior Implementation Officer Chelsea Fallon and Senior Counsel Sean Spivey.

The FCC approved 4-0 an NPRM proposing revised rules for a program to pay for the replacement of equipment from Huawei and ZTE in U.S. networks, as expected (see 2102110053), at the commissioners' meeting Wednesday. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel stressed that even more than the previous administration, she's emphasizing coordination with other parts of the federal government in her approach to supply chain risks. Commissioner Brendan Carr said the U.S. must stay tough on China.